Various – Sacred Steel: Traditional Sacred African-American Steel Guitar Music in Florida (Arhoolie)

I’m not a religious person; as a lapsed Presbyterian, the noncommittal crown of the agnostic now sits snugly around my forehead. Even so, sacred music remains one of my chief sources of aural pleasure. From predictable purveyors like Mahalia Jackson and the Five Blind Boys of Alabama, to the darker Old Testament tributaries traveled by Blind Willie Johnson and Reverend Utah Smith, my ears are always open to sounds touched by theistic hands even if I’m not always on board with the sentiments underlying them. Such is the case with this collection from Arhoolie, the first of label’s forays into documenting sacred lap steel music and an excellent cross-section of some of the more talented movers & shakers on the instrument. The program breaks conveniently into two halves with the first covering a selection of instrumentals and concert segments by three distinct Floridian stylists: Sonny Treadway, Glenn Lee and Willie Eason. Part Two focuses on samples culled from live congregational services again featuring the work of Treadway along with selections from Henry Nelson and Aubrey Ghent. The songs are mostly public domain spirituals with only Eason represented by original material. Most cuts feature a minimum of drums accompaniment with a fair number also featuring small bands in support of the guitarists. Sterling slide work stays front and center and ranges from the polished tonal vacillations of Treadway on tracks like “At the Cross” to more openly ebullient stylings of Lee who slips in some shaggy blues licks along with the more sectarian riffs. My favorite of the cache are the solo numbers by Eason whose limpid crying tone, hotly amplified lines and unvarnished vocals remind me of a mellowed out and more pious Hop Wilson. As usual with an Arhoolie release, accompanying notes and photos are generous. Chris Strachwitz parlayed the success of the disc into an entire niche for his label’s catalog, though the stream of releases seems to have stoppered for the time being. This is a choice place to drink freely during the dry spell.